Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1887-04-09
Jewels.

Some one who knows very little and does
not 30 about much says iewelry is not in
fashion. This is news To be sure, cable
chains and lcckets as big as plates and
iing'ing bangles are no more seen, but
jewels in settings of which each design is
work of art are worn and will continue TO
be as long as purses are deep enough to
buy them and there are handsome women
upon whom 10 bestow them.
Mrs. Oscar Wilde has written very SEN
sible article on jewelry. in which she urges
change in the use of precious stones.
She thinks that women have gained more
harm than good from the love of Jewels.
AS a means of personal decoration Jewels
have been the cause of much avarice and
much misery.
If people would learn to look upon Jewels
as works of wonder in nature beyond all
art, she feels sure they would receive more
pleasure than is giined from their use as a
display of wealth. Then, like other
beautiful thing'," she says, Jewels would
work us good and not evil.
If Mr.. Oscar had displayed n 1.-THE of
the good sense, during his aesthetic crusade,
that his better half here displays, we might
have been moe patient with him.
The petty jealousies INDUCED in among
women of society in general, perhaps, are
not so well worth observing as those noticea-
bic among young women in their puerile
attempts at decking themselves with gems
That Mrs. Astor covers herself with
diamonds may cause Mrs. Vanderbilt IA
heart-pang Of envy. but her competitors
are of necessity limited to very narrow
circle of millionaires. But when Sapphire
Brown sports solitaire over the counter at
Woods every other girl is unhappy if her
digit is not similarly ornamental.
IF MrS Nopluzan ,,Loca hucbapl 10
bookkeeper ut Prints & Checks, appears
with jeweled earrings ut table in Mrs.
Hash's select boarding house, all her fe-
male fellow boarders are signing because
they cannot dazzle you in the same fashion.
Their poor, round-shouldered husbands
are nagged and cajoled to thus indulge
their etter-halves.
Another place where this fashion of
wearing jewels creates q most unhealthy
atmosphere is among our school girls.
Girls in college particularly are preys to
this vanity. Indeed girls social stand
ing often depends upon how many rings
she wears; if she possesses bracelets or
necklace.
1t is not for this that girls are sent to
boarding schools. but it sometimes looks
~. "TLe poor child" says the dotin2
mamma to ditto papa, "is going away alone
from home. She must have this costly
necklace or that pretty and expensive pair
of earrings to console her. Thus her
teachers and fellow pupils will see she has
parents who cherish her and give hcI
ereryih ng size wants, ana they will treat
her with more consideration"
They are level-headed, if that is what il
alone dies red for the Young miss. Hel
jewels will be admired and envied, and she
will think they are herself, and. unless She
proves moIe sensible than n child of snch
parents is likely to do, her head IL be
turned with pride and her heart pulled up
with vanity, and the poor little thing,
satiated with admiration, will grow greedy
and avarlcious for yet additional arna-
ments.
To what base uses doth the best THINGS
come is not literal. but true. II would
seem it were better to look upon and use
these beautiful creations of Natures wifi
the superstit on of the ancients
how consoling 1t must have been to
those heather lovers to think that, in pos
sessing cleaning topaz, the course Of
their sincere true love could not be ruff1ed.
or that, by wearing piece of agate stone
on the hand, the immortal gods would al
ways be propitious in all earthly undertake
ings.
This belief In precious stones as
Charms, while dating back to the remote
ages, exists to-day in parts of the Indian
Empire. The Shah of Persia has, on good
authority, a number of gems, in tho pos
session OF which he puts the firmest faith
as protection against all earthly ills and
misfortunes. Accidental circumstances
perhaps, helped to strengthen this faith,
for on one occasion the bullet Of would
pc assassin Glanced of from the casket Of